Right around the holidays an old friend contacted me about taking pictures for a book she may be publishing. I was more than happy to do the assignment, and it was a great excuse to catch up. I met Laura my freshman year of high school, and we were good friends for years. Some of my most vivid memories are of passing notes full of inside jokes in between classes and PE. More specifically the time we had to wrestle each other in front of the entire class…

We more or less lost touch during our college years, but we’ve been able to see each other a few times in the last six months. Since Laura lives in New York City now, her stories are particularly amusing. Then again, she’s always had a talent for entertaining story telling.

It turns out that “this book she might be publishing” came along a lot sooner than I thought! I was just getting a grasp on the fact that Laura wrote a book in the first place, and now I’m in awe that it is now available in paperback on Amazon and downloadable for the Kindle.

It just so happens that you can download a Kindle edition of her novel ‘The Wingmen‘ for FREEtoday (Thursday February 28th). Take advantage of this opportunity for a great free read and support an up-and-coming author. Or go old school and purchase the book for real.

Get a taste of Laura’s writing chops on her blog and send her some love!

Last but not least, here are my favorite photos from our headshot session: Don’t you just love her ginger locks?

I know these next two don’t have solid white backrounds, but I was experimenting with a faint rose tone since her shirt is a cream color. Thoughts?
Here you can see the book and my photo in action. She chose the top right image for her author photo:

During my walk down 21st Ave, I came across two Portland Modern employees sitting outside for a smoke break. Their clothing and style caught my eye, and it turned out they were wearing clothes from the store and talking to each other in fake accents. They were really fun people and were nice enough to let me take a bunch of portraits of them. When I was done I gave them each my card and they introduced themselves as Scott and Mariel. I told them to e-mail me for copies and Mariel was very skeptical. She made me promise that I would actually reply to her e-mail, and I did! I e-mailed her photos right after she contacted me, so I hope she’s happy with them.

At one point Mariel offered me a drag of her cigarette, and when I declined, saying that I didn’t smoke, she said “I’ve never met a photographer who didn’t smoke,” which I found humorous. Ok, let’s get to the photos!

I took this quick shot of their legs (right) last minute and fell in love with it. Amazing how much expression you can get from legs and hands, isn’t it?They continued talking in their accents as I took photos, so I call this a “conversation diptych”Then I asked for a few of them looking at me. They were naturals! Mariel:Scott:

Our hotel was closest to Portland’s Nob Hill district in northwest Portland. I spent one early afternoon walking up and down 23rd and 21st avenue taking photos and browsing some shops.

Went to a cool coffee shop called Coffee Time on 21st avenue. Awesome rock & roll painted outdoor tables:I photographed the barista (left), and a man from San Francisco (right) sitting near a table lamp. We had a quick conversation about photography (since I had my camera around my neck) and then I asked him to pose, and he went right into deep stare mode. Silly self-portrait in the graffiti-filled Coffee Time bathroom.

My good friend Yelena, who you saw in my post Holga: roll 3, part 1, came to town and I took pictures of her in Arana Gulch. She recently died her hair red and cut it shorter, so it was time for new photos! The weather was sunny with clouds, so the sun kept disappearing and reappearing, but we made it work. It was a fun and simple shoot. There were tons of people out walking their dogs, and a few particularly liked Yelena and–oddly enough–completely ignored me.

Yelena is an extremely talented designer and all-around artist. Definitely check out her design portfolio and blog.

Enjoy!

My four favorites: We made a ladybug friend: I always find the need to get some silly pictures: Yelena has these awesome Nike high-tops that deserved some attention: